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Persepolis

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/116530709078611548
Marjane Satrapi 

General Questions | Group Questions | Criticism | Pictures | Links

Language/Country/Date Written/Published
French/Iran-Europe/2000-03 French - 2003-04 English

We move onto new territory here.

The medium -- known variously as graphic narrative, graphic novel, comix, comics -- was once relegated to the land of popular literature and kept out of the academy. But after Art Speigelman's Maus (1986-1991), which garnered wide critical acclaim and won a Pulitzer Prize Special Award in 1992, graphic texts became accepted as "legitimate" works of art. For instance, the venerable Norton Anthology of American Literature now features an excerpt from Maus in its volume covering works from 1945 to today. And your ENGL 152 anthology? It contains an excerpt from Persepolis.

Reading a graphic narrative obviously involves paying attention to images as well as words. Many of the skills you've learned in this class, paying attention to repetition, noticing small, telling details, will come into play. One central element in graphic texts is the panel -- and the role of time. Moving from panel to panel is the author's way of moving readers through time, either a split-second . . . or decades. For graphic artist/writers, the space between each panel acts as a visual punctuation mark, the pictorial equivalent of a dash, comma, period, paragraph break, etc.

Terms to know

The following terms from Robert Harvey provide a discourse for discussing graphic texts:

1. narrative breakdown – the division of the story into panel units;
2. composition – the arrangement of pictorial elements within a panel;
3. layout – the arrangement of panels on a page and their relative size and shape” (9). 

Consider these as well:

• close up
• medium shot
• splash page
• gutter  

Works Cited

Harvey, Robert C. The Art of the Comic Book: An Aesthetic History, UP of Mississippi, 1996.

Questions to mull over as you interpret the story

• What did you learn about Iranian politics, cultural practices, relationships, and leaving a country from this Persepolis? How does the book confirm or reject a stereotypical Westerners view of a fundamentalist country?
• Just as in Rousseau, Satrapi shows her character warts and all: what does the book gain from this?  what are some instances where she seems particularly weak? Why?
• Meriem from Meursault Investigation?
• Quite a lot of history here: why?  Granted, it's a memoir and thus based on true events, but why so much background?
• How does this compare and contrast with the other memoir we've read, Rousseau's Confessions?
• Unlike some of our other books, Persepolis is filled with humor. How is this reconciled in the face of the tragedy experienced by Satrapi?
• Satrapi and her family were from the upper class in Iran; how does this color our understanding of their beliefs and situation? How does Satrapi acknowledge this? Where does she miss this?
• Given its setting, the book obviously deals with questions of freedom: what kinds of freedom are shown in the novel? How can freedom be restricted? What, according to Satrapi, does it mean to be free?
• The book is centered around Satrapi's family. Who are they? Break down the different characters and explain their personalities.
• Persepolis is filled with references to history: why? What is Satrapi suggesting about the role of history's lives? How does she suggest it is shaped?
• Another way of looking at history is to examine stories: the book is filled with narratives, both from Satrapi and from others. What does Satrapi suggest about the role of narrative in people's lives?
• The misogyny of fundamentalist Islam is well documented. How does the book demonstrate that women had and still have some agency in their lives? How does it show that they do not? How does Satrapi show the complexity of women's thinking in the book?
• Using the list of discourse on graphic texts cited above, using particular pages, comment on how the language of graphic works contribute. It's best here to work with each of the terms individually and find a representative page that seems to use that technique particularly well.
• As an autobiography, Persepolis charts Satrapi's life up to her young adulthood. How does she change is a person? How are some character traits from her childhood carried over into her adulthood? What motivates her to change? What sustains her, allowing a measure of stability?

Group Questions

What the author/critics say

Pictures

"Compulsory Veils? Half of Iranians Say ‘No’ to Pillar of Revolution"  By Thomas Erdbrink
Feb. 4, 2018.  New York Times.

"Iran Arrests 29 Linked to Protests Against Compulsory Hijab." Thomas Erdbrink and Richard Pérez-Peña. Feb. 2, 2018. New York Times.

© 2018 David Bordelon